“June showed another sharp increase in payroll jobs over May and private sector jobs have now completely recovered from the 2008 – 2010 employment recession, although these numbers are preliminary and subject to revision,” said Andy Condon, Director of the Office of Research. “Our unemployment data continues to show growth in the labor force and employment, indicating that workers are entering or rejoining the labor force and most are finding jobs.”

Seven of the ten major industry supersectors increased employment in June 2017 while two declined, and the Trade, Transportation & Utilities (297,800 jobs) supersector was unchanged. Leisure and Hospitality (4,400, 2.8%%, 161,100 jobs) was the biggest job gaining supersector in June, potentially signifying a healthy start to the summer season. Most of the gain in this supersector came from the hotels and restaurants portion (3,800, 2.9%, 132,800). LLeisure and Hospitality now leads all ten supersectors in numeric job growth over the year (7,200, 4.7% OTY). The private Education and Health Services (1,200, 0.4%, 334,400 jobs) supersector was next in job growth in June with the educational services segment (600, 0.9%, 66,100) and the health services (600, 0.2%, 268,300) sub-components both contributing to the gain. All other industry supersectors showing growth in June had gains under a thousand each including: Financial Activities (800, 0.6%, 133,100), Information (600, 1.9%, 31,900 jobs), Other Services (600, 0.9%, 68,200 positions), Manufacturing (200, 0.1%, 156,000 positions), and Professional and Business Services (100, 0.05%, 216,900 jobs). The Other Services (3,500, 5.4% OTY) supersector now leads in percentage job growth since June 2016.

The Construction and Mining (-800,-1.3%, 61,000) industry supersector was the largest of the two declining industries last month but is still adding jobs since June 2016 (1,500, 2.5%). The Government supersector (-100, -0.04%) was slightly lower as well.

Connecticut has now recovered 84.0% (100,000, about 1,136 jobs per month) of the 119,100 seasonally adjusted jobs lost in the Great Recession (3/08-2/10). The job recovery is into its 88th month and the state needs an additional 19,100 jobs to reach an overall nonfarm employment expansion. However, the state's Private Sector has entered the expansion phase, regaining 102.0% (113,900 or about 1,294 per month) of the 111,700 Private Sector jobs lost in that same employment downturn. The Government supersector has lost a total of 21,300 positions since the recession began in March 2008. This includes an additional 13,900 jobs lost since the state's nonfarm employment recovery began in February 2010 – slowing the overall Connecticut recovery.

Labor Market Areas (LMAs): Of the six LMAs that are seasonally adjusted by BLS, five of the Connecticut's regional Labor Market Areas (LMAs) were higher in nonfarm employment, and one was lower in June 2017. These six LMAs make up over 91% of Connecticut's nonagricultural employment. The New Haven LMA (1,600, 0.6%, 285,800 positions) led all LMAs in job growth last month in both numerical and percentage terms and is now the fastest growing LMA in the state over the year in percentage terms (4,000, 1.4% OTY). The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford LMA (1,200, 0.2%, 575,600) also produced a thousand-plus gain and still leads in job growth magnitude over the last 12 months (5,800, 1.0% OTY). The Norwich-New London-Westerly LMA (600, 0.5%, 129,400), the Danbury LMA (400, 0.5%, 79,500), and the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk LMA (300, 0.1%, 412,700 jobs) all added jobs as well. The Waterbury LMA (-600, -0.9%, 66,400) was lower in job counts last month and is now the only BLS recognized Connecticut labor market area (LMA) to lose jobs over the year (-1,100, -1.6% OTY).
Note: Six major Connecticut LMAs are estimated independently from the statewide data by the BLS and cover more than 90% of the nonfarm employment in the state. Thus, estimates will not fully sum to the statewide total.

Hours and Earnings: The Private Sector, workweek, not seasonally adjusted, averaged 33.6 hours in June 2017, unchanged from the same month a year ago. Average hourly earnings at $30.67, not seasonally adjusted, were up $0.63 (2.1%) from the June 2016 estimate ($30.04). The resultant average Private Sector weekly pay amounted to $1,030.51, up $21.17 from a year ago (2.1%).

June 2017 seasonally adjusted average weekly initial unemployment claims for first-time filers in Connecticut increased by 208 claimants (5.2%) to 4,182 from May 2017, and were lower by 712 claims (-14.5%) from the June 2016 level of 4,894.